Spinning wheel



July 12, 1938. I w: M. Mll .LER

v SfINNING WHEEL Filed Feb. 19, 1938 2 Sheets-Shaet l July 12, 11938. I w M E 2,123,285

SPINNING WHEEL Filed Feb. 19, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ae i0 9 I'| U 11 m l 1: a1 l| HH 8 l ll Ill! 5 5 HP Patented July 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,123,285 r SPINNING WHEEL William M. Miller, Omaha, Nebr. Application February 19, 1938, Serial No.. 191,506 2 Claims. (01. 273-142) This invention, relates to an awarding apparatus and more particularly, relates to the construction of, a spinning wheel used in awardinggifts to patrons in connection with theaters or moving-picture houses to'encourage patronage or more, frequent attendance at the. entertainments and tostimulate sales of merchandise in the community where locally used, and incidentally to induce patrons to prepare and deliver written slogans pertaining to the entertainments for use of the management for advertising purposes.

;One of the objects of the invention is to provide a rotatable disc-wheel of such construction that it will include radially disposed, character-indicating strips which will be interchangeable.

Another object is to provide elongated interchangeable strips bearing indicating characters atlongitudinal intervals and disposed radially on a; rotatable discwheel to form a plurality of rows.

of characters concentric with the axis of rotation.

Another object is to provide means carriedby the disc-wheel for obscuring a greater or lesser number of the concentric rows of indicatingcharacters normally appearing thereon.

Still another object is to provide adjustable features to permit disc-wheels of varying diameters to be used. Other objects of the invention will appear inthe description.

The invention consists of the new and useful construction, combination and arrangement of parts ,as described herein and claimed, and as shown in the accompanying drawings,- it being understood that changes may be: made in form, size, proportions and minor details, said changes In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a front view of the device showing the radially disposed, inwardly convergent, interchangeable strips thereon, the

indicating characters which are provided for said strips, for the most part, being omitted.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the characterindicating, detachable strips. Fig. 3 is a. sectional view on line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view of the device taken at rightangles to the view shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a broken away detail showing one of the preferred holders for a flexible detent-finger. Fig. 6 and Fig. '7 are plan views of obscuring-discs.

Referring now to the drawings for a more par- 5 ticular description, I provide a standard 8 in which an upwardly projecting-bar 9 is slidably mounted and is provided with a spindle in, said bar being under control of a keeper II as to its adjustments.

55 The standard 8 is also provided with a second being withinlthe scope of the invention as claimed.

adjusting-bar, indicated at 12, its upper end being provided with an arm I3 having a holder M of staple form, in which may be mounted a flexible ,detent or contact-member I 5.

The base iii of the standard is provided with a 5 projection I! having a holder I8 of staple form in which is mounted a second contact-member I9.

A disc-wheel 20 is axially mounted for rotation on the spindle l0, and on account of the arrangement of parts as described, disc-wheels of various 10 diameters may be used, the bars 9 and I2 being adjusted to suitable elevations for this purpose and secured to the standard 8'by means of the keepers II and II.

The disc-wheel 20 is provided with numerous 15 detent-pins 2| on its face near its periphery, said pins being uniformly spaced apart, the operation as usual, being that the rotation of the disc-wheel will cease on account of frictional contact of the pins 2i with the flexible fingers l5 and I9. 20

The flexiblefingers l5 and I9 are disposed opposite to each other and operate as a single pair, and in the operation of the herein described apparatus additional pairs of flexible fingers, similar to those mentioned may be used, the fingers 2 of each additional pair (not shown) being disposed 180 degrees ap-art.

A plurality of indicatingstrips 22 of uniform size are provided, each strip bearing, at longi-', tudinal intervals, a variety of characters appear- 30 ing in spaces a, 1), 0 and 11, said strips being of elongated, convergent form and disposed side by side radially of .the disc-wheel and adapted to cover, approximately, the outer part of the face. thereof. I

It will be understood that the characters on the spaces a to d inclusive indicate awards to be delivered to contestants, some of the awards being cash. and other awards being specific kinds of merchandise.

It will be noted that the spaces a are disposed to describe a circular section concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc-wheel 20, and that the spaces b, 0 and d have the same arrangement, and this arrangement is depended upon for the 45 several consecutive entertainments of a period. For instance, for the first entertainment of a day a single article indicated in one of the spaces a of the outer circular section will be awarded, and at the next successive entertainment an award of an article in one of the spaces b will be made, and for the third and fourth entertainments similar awards will be made from the circular sections in which the spaces a and d appear.

Since I have provided a plurality of flexible fingers l and Is it is obvious that after one has been used for four entertainments, the other may be used for four additional entertainments, and it is thought that the use of members l5 and IS in alternation adds interest to the contestants in conducting the awards.

Numerals 23, 24 and 25 indicate obscuringdiscs of greater or lesser diameters, and when the apparatus is used for entertainments in smaller cities or towns where the audience may be small, the large disc 23 may be used, and for large audiences the disc 25 of limited diameter may be used. These discs may be readily interchanged after the handle 26 has been removed from the spindle l0. Numerals 21 (Fig. 1) indicate keepers for securing the obscuring discs to the wheel 20, and at 26' are indicatedopenings which'are provided for the obscuring-discs adapted to receive said keepers.

- All of the indicating-strips 22 are interchangeable, and are secured to the face of the disc-wheel 20 by pressure of a disc 23,24 or 25 which may engage the inner ends of said strips. The outer ends of these indicating-strips are provided with notches 21' (Fig. 2) adapted to receive a pair of pins 2| which tends to resist centrifugal force when the disc-wheel is rotated. Numerals 28 indicate curved projections or ledges which are provided for theouter ends of the strips 22, and

since these strips have flat surfaces the ledges 28 operate as finger-holds when lifting and disengaging said strips from the pins'2l.

The arrangement for the awards of cash or merchandise to contestants and reception of slog-ans by'iu'se of the apparatus is very simple.

Each person in the audience has been supplied with-a numbered ticket, and aduplicate thereof is retained at the 'boxorfice; The duplicate tickets are placed; in mixed condition, in a jar or other receptacle, and the manager of the entertain'ment calls for a volunteerfrom the audience to selecta ticket from the receptacle. The person in the audience holding the original ticket bearing a number corresponding to the number on the duplicate ticket thus selected will be entitled to receive the item a pearing in one of the spaces a, b, c or d pointed out by one of the flexible fingers l5 or H! atthe termination of rotation'o'f the disc-wheel 20. 1

During this operation the volunteer above mentioned who selected the duplicate ticket from the receptacle may rotate the disc-wheel, or the person holding the original numbered ticket corresponding to the number on the selected ticket may rotate sa'id'discwheel. As above explained, one gift will'be awarded for each entertainment corresponding to the circularly arranged rows a, b, c and d, and the recipient of each gift must i circularly arranged spaces a, b, c and 11 appear to be few and indefinite, it will be understood that the names of classes or specific articles of ;merchandise of various kinds may be used. Also in the awards which are made in connection with the invention, printed lists of goods are on exhibition at the box office showing various kinds of drugs, articles of clothing, groceries or other classes of goods, so that the person entitled to receive a gift of an -article of .a certain class may make a selection of anynarticle, on the printed list, belonging to that class, and in this manner the names of the items appearingin the spaces a, b, c and'd will be sufficient for practical operation.

' I claim asmy invention,'

1. In a spinning wheel, a standard; an'uprig ht supporting-bar provided with a spindle and slidably mounted. on the standard, a disc-wheel rotatably mounted on the spindle of the supporting-bar and provided along its periphery with detent-pins, a second upright adjusting-bar slidably mounted on the standard and provided with a flexible contact-member for engaging the detent-pin'a'a plurality of elongated strips providecl With'indicating characters and disposed side'by sidebetwe'en said detent-pins circumferentially on the face of the disc-wheel, and a detachable disc on the disc-Wheel engaging said strips.

. 2. In a spinning wheel, astandard, an upright adjusting-bar 'slidable .on the standard and provided with a spindle, a disc-wheel axially mounted for rotation on the spindle and provided at its periphery with uniformly spaced detent-pins, a second upright adjusting-bar provided with a flexible contact-member for engaging "the detent-pins, a plurality of elongated strips bearing indicating characters at longitudinal intervals and disposed side by side circumferentiallyand detach'ably on the'disc-wheel between the detent-pins, and an engaging disc-for securing the strips to said disc-wheel, the indicating characters of'said' strips being disposed in rows concentric with the axial mounting of said disc-wheel.

' WILLIAM M. MILLER. 

